Despatches from Agent Orange

Another week complete and now approaching the completion of the 1st month of training. It’s still taking a little getting used to being in the classroom, day in and day out. Most of us in the class have come from other lines of work. Some, however, have just finished high school or university.

First 2 days of the week were spent on Product Knowledge. Basically knowing stations, lines, ticket types, fares, conditions, concessions, areas for ticketing, info on a ticket and so on. There was 7 days worth of material crammed into 2 days. It basically gave everyone a headache. The next day saw dealing with vulnerable people (VP). Who are vulnerable people you ask? Children under 14 yrs of age, elderly persons, persons with a physical disability, persons with an intellectual disability and persons who are homeless. That is a pretty wide section of the community. And they all ride the rail network. We were fortunate to have some wonderful guest presenters who gave an excellent insight into their lives as physically disabled and intellectually disabled persons. From growing up in state care with Down’s Syndrome, being abused physically and sexually, being told you’re worthless & no good to society. And from going to the shops with your mum, being hit in the head by an automatic door and then becoming totally blind 3 days later. These 2 men were nothing short of remarkable. They took their “disabilities” in their stride and excelled at everything they applied themselves to. The both taught us that, yes VPs do need your help and assistance, but there is a right way to go about it. That was the message they wanted to get across to us and they did that very successfully.

Thursday & Friday were assessment days and E-Learning days. E-Learning is railway speak for look stuff up on the computer, write down the answers and watch some videos and answer questions. There were the usual written assessments, but also our first role play. Yes. Role Play. The first of many. We have a small “train” at the college for us to play on. We were partnered up for our role plays, because we’ll be in pairs when we’re on the job. I made mistakes & so did my offsider during our role plays, but we corrected ourselves. I’d prefer to make mistakes in the college and learn from them. Little mistakes are fine, but big mistakes…. No thanks.

Also had the opportunity to speak to and learn from some guys who have been in the job for a number of years. All of them were very knowledgeable and happy to pass on their knowledge.

Australia is still under a caretaker government. A week after the Federal Election, we still don’t have a government. The reason is quite simple. Neither of the major parties won enough votes to form a majority government. For the first time since 1940, Australia officially has a hung parliament. So how does one resolve this situation? We could go back to the polls, have another election in an effort to form a majority government. The Governor-General could exercise her constitutional powers and decree who will govern. However the most likely situation is a minority government will be formed. Mmmm. Minority Governments. Again the last time there was a federal minority government was in 1940. Fickle creatures are minority governments. You see whoever forms government will need the “support” of the independent members. What is an independent? Simply put they are Members of Parliament who are not a member of a political party. Constitutional, any Australian citizen can run for Parliament so long as they register with Australian Electoral Commission. However in recent times, the current batch of Independents “left” political parties and became independents.

At the time of writing this blog, there is only one seat, the Seat of Brisbane, that has yet to be decided. Neither Labor or the Coalition have the 76 seats required to form a majority government. As it stands there are 4 independents and 1 Green in the House of Representatives. Bob Katter, Rob Oakeshott, Tony Windsor & Andrew Wilkie are the Independents and Adam Brant is the Green. Now of course Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott have been seeking the support of the Independents. Brant has declared that he’ll be supporting Gillard, which somewhat amusingly, caused the Greens leader, Bob Brown to remind young Adam that he might want to consult the party before declaring his support for another party.

Katter, Oakeshott and Windsor have been loving the fact, you just need to look at the shit eating grins on their faces, that the 3 of them can determine who runs the country. Windsor has experience in a minority government and that was when he was a NSW State MP and he formed a minority government with Labor’s Bob Carr. The 3 independents will be outlining to Gillard and Abbott what THEY want for their electorates. And this is the problem with hung parliaments and minority governments. Both Gillard and Abbott went to the polls with various policies as a platform on which to be elected to government. Now you can be rest assured that a number of these policies might not even leave the House of Representatives, because the Independents won’t support them unless there is something in it for them. Katter, Oakeshott and Windsor have all given Gillard and Abbott a set of demands and they’ve also demanded to see full costings of Gillard and Abbott’s election promises/policies. Normally they’d be told to go jump, but since the 3 or them can make or break Gillard and Abbott, they can demand whatever they damn well want. And this shits me right off no end. It’s bad enough in the Senate when you have minor parties holding the balance of power, let alone in the House of Representatives. Personally I think this really hinders government. Mind you the Australian voters have put everyone into this situation and some will argue, maybe rightfully so to, that the major parties gave them no choice other than vote the way they did.

When will all this be sorted out? Who knows!?!? If nothing is sorted out by November, then we’ll probably have to go back to the polls. However, it’s unlikely that that would happen. So in the meantime we just have to let our elected politicians sort it all out. One thing is for sure, I reckon there are a large number of voters who are probably thinking it’s time for some sort of parliamentary reform. To be blunt, politicians are frequently “reforming” the way we live & work, yet aren’t so keen on reforming their neck of the woods. They’ve got it pretty good in a lot of aspects our politicians, wish some would realise that. And another thing, I think not only will there be some parliamentary reform, I’m certain that the major parties will both be looking inwards and looking to reform themselves. If they’re not, then they’ve got some issues. It’s very clear the Australian voters believe they have issues and need to reform their parties.

2 weeks down, 10 weeks to go. Not that I’m counting. The week was the first week of job specific training. Still majority classroom based, although did get away from the college twice, once to Central and once for uniform fittings. Nothing overly stressful. Finally got computer access and email. That took an age, not only to be approved but then to have access activated. This did delay some computer based learning and we had to cram some sections so has to finish on time.

Had my notebook issued to me. Already made a number of entries into it. Have also already had it checked once. When in the field, notebook entries will need to be made. Basically they can be divided up into Shift Entries (sign on, sign off), Incident Entries and Not On Duty Day Entries (NODD include ADO, RDO, Leave, Sick Leave). The trainers had set up a role play, without us knowing, which we observed and then obviously had to note the incident in our notebooks. Everything is in First Person. You surprise yourself with just how much you remember and just how much you’ve got to remember! Gender, Age, Clothing, Ethnicity, Features/Markings/Tattoos etc. The notebook is a legal document. Not really an issue for me, as whenever I used to write in a patient’s file, it was a legal document.

Spoke to some senior members from the field. Geez, they were great. Plenty of good solid advice was given and loads of encouragement too. The camaraderie is building within Green Team, which is good, because from what I’ve observed thus far, once we’ve graduated, camaraderie is a job essential.

Trip to Central had a number of reasons behind it. Firstly, that is where we will all be stationed and it allowed us to familiarise ourselves with the station and surrounds. Secondly we had a visit to the Rail Management Centre (RMC) lined up. The RMC is also home to the Security Control Centre (SSC). It was interesting but I’d scene many control centres before. Their all built/designed to a standard. The only real difference with this one, was a huge screen of the entire network, showing every station and every train in real time. Pretty cool.

Uniform fittings were fun. Off to Kingsgrove we went and 3 by 3 we all got measured for our gear. Much fun was had as we all came out of the change rooms in uniform with beaming smiles on our faces. We wont be seeing those uniforms again until graduation.

Thursday & Friday are going to be assessment days from now on. Well the mornings of those two days at least. Got our first role plays next week. Just the start of many. Anyway that’s it for now. Need to get cracking on another blog post on a different subject.

The freedom to vote without duress.

I love that. In this great country of mine, we’re free to vote for whomever we choose. Well for whomever is on the ballot papers. I actually enjoy elections. I get to cast my vote, grab a sausage or steak sandwich from the public school P&C BBQ, go home and then watch the results come in on the TV later in the night. I find it fascinating how certain area vote. Key Seats, Safe Seats, Marginal Seats. I love it. Usually we’re able to get an idea who will form or retain government a few hours after polling stations have closed and votes are tallied up. Except this time.

“What the hell just happened?” appears to be a sentence frequently used by journos and everyday people to describe the Federal Election 2010. It has been an extraordinary year for Federal politics. A hugely popular PM, Kevin Rudd, who started to loose his sheen with the Australian people, which was being shown very clearly in the polls, was ruthlessly removed or as some would say back stabbed, by his party room and his deputy, Julia Gillard, then became PM. Our first woman PM. The country went a bit ga ga over her “appointment”, opinion polls went up and some in the media revelled in the fact we now had a woman in the country’s top job. IMHO, it should be best person for job, regardless of gender. After a very short honeymoon period, the opinion polls once started to slide in all but the Preferred PM section. Gillard was in between a rock and a hard place. She placed in the top job to have the ALP re-elected to government. However, the timing was lousy. While in theory a Federal Election could be called any time right up to February 2011, history showed that the Australian electorate can be very fickle depending on when an Election is called. I could go on for ages here, but I won’t, I’ll only say that 21st August 2010 was the date set for the Federal Election.

It was a negative and frankly dull campaign. As usual our TV screens, computer screens and radio airwaves were filled with negative political propaganda from the two major parties, Australian Labor Party and Liberal Party of Australia. Both leaders, Julia Gillard and Tony Abbot, both engaged in negative politics. It was mind numbing. 5 weeks of rubbish politics. It was also truly amazing what became election issues, like the National Broadband Network. Seriously! The big shit fight over the mining super profits tax just disappeared from the radar. The much hyped & publicised Health Care funding arrangement was barely mentioned. The rural & remote communities were basically left out. Emissions Trading Scheme, left out. Education, Defence, Infrastructure all barely raised a mention. Instead “The Economy” and “Economic Credentials” and “Economic Management” was constantly hammered home. Gillard’s phrase “Moving Forward” became a drinking game and the phrase was quickly dropped. Abbot had a fondness for the word “Stop”. Stop the boats. Stop the waste etc etc. Thankfully we’re given our 72 hour reprieve of political advertising prior to election day.

Robin and I attended the polling station about an hour after polls opened. My federal electorate is Chifley, a safe Labor seat in NSW. When we arrived there was a decent sized line. Only the Liberals and Labor were handing out “How To Vote” pamphlets outside the polling station. I tweeted on my iPhone whilst standing in line. Got inside, had names checked off on the electoral roll and was given the 2 ballot papers, small green one for House of Reps and the stupidly long white one for the Senate. Seriously the choice for House of Reps wasn’t great. I was not overly impressed with the leaders of either party and I had to look long and hard at their policies to decide who to vote for. Anyway marked my ballot papers correctly and deposited them in their correct ballot boxes, then went outside and bought an awesome sausage sandwich with onion to eat.

Fast forward to late on election night. Watching the ABC TV coverage, always the best in my opinion, things started to take shape. As expected, Labor was taking huge hits in NSW and Queensland, where woeful Labor state governments currently govern, a large number of sitting Labor members were dumped. Victoria however was proving to be much better for Labor, except the seat of Melbourne. That went Green. WTF?!?! A member of The Greens won a seat in the House of Reps!?!?! A federal election first. And what’s that scrolling along the bottom of the screen? A 20 yr old Queenslander with the first name of Wyatt has become the youngest ever MP elected to the Australian Parliament. Another first! As time goes on, it looks like it will be a hung parliament. The 3 strong Independents in NSW & Qld retained their seats, but what’s this, another Independent looks like getting elected in Tasmania!!! Yet another first! Just WTF is going on here!?!? It was tipped to be a tight election, but most of the “experts” and pundits thought that there would be a majority government.

76 seats are needed in the House of Reps for a majority to be formed. The major parties are basically locked at 72 seats each with 4 Independents and 1 Green holding other seats. There is currently 1 seat in doubt, which is predicted to go to The Liberals. So this all means someone will have to form a minority government. It’ll probably be weeks before that all happens. As for the Senate, as predicted, the Greens were the big winners gaining 4 new Senate seats. I’m seriously concerned about this. The Greens aren’t an environmental party. They’re a party for radical social change with a bit of an environmental twist thrown in.

The right to vote has been exercised and the Australian Electorate has spoken, even if a percentage of them informally voted. IMHO they’ve said the major parties aren’t fit to govern. If the ALP and the LPA have any sense, they’ll take a long hard look at their campaigns, their polices and themselves in general. Time for Change? Yeah, time for the majority political parties to evolve and met the needs of the electorate. Oh and being positive wouldn’t go astray.

Interesting times ahead.

Saturday saw a belated farewell party for me at The Royal Cricketers Arms Hotel at Prospect. It’s a good pub as they cater for families, so the clan came along for the night, as well as my Mum. A decent number of my former work colleagues turned up with their respective partners and there were about 8 kids.

We’d booked an outdoor area and chose the undercover area with the widescreen TV in it. It was also next to the kids playground. 2 large LPG powered heaters kept the area nice and warm. My clan and my Mum got to meet some of the people I’d spent almost 10 years with on the burns unit. Of course I was suitably embarrassed by that lot. Got an SMS from James saying he was unable to attend, which was a bummer, however his wife is pregnant with their 2nd child, so that’s wonderful news.

Various people had decided to make up presents for me. Kate went to the trouble of making me up a rather large lolly bag, crammed full of chocolates & lollies. You see dear readers, Kate used to have a near endless supply of lollies in her bottom desk drawer. Every so often I’d lob into her officer and grab a handful of lollies to help me through the day. OK, it was almost every day I went to see her, but hey, I like my chocolates & lollies.

Miranda gave me a koala. Not a live one, rather a plush stuffed toy koala. I know you’re wondering why on earth would she give me that. Tradition. Burns Unit Tradition. You see whenever a staff member or international visitor left the unit, we’d dress up a plush toy in a burns dressing. As the years went on, the dressing of these plush toys became more elaborate. I have one now. It’s sitting proudly in our display cabinet here at home.

After having a few middies, the girls going through a few bottles of wine, it was decided by Chris, for all to gather around and say a few words about yours truly. Chris said a few kind words, as did Sarah (formerly known as Dot) and I was presented with a huge card signed by loads of people and a wrapped up gift. I opened it up and found a CD (which I later found out had a load pics of me during my time at the burns unit), a tshirt which had 3 pics of ME on the front of it and lastly a $350 Red Balloon gift voucher. Of course I was then prompted to say some words. I teared up about 3 times. These are truly amazing people I worked with. I will miss working with them. I learned a huge amount from them and in one way or another they’ve left a huge impression on me. Of course Rae had to get up say a few things, she always has to have the last word.

I must say the food was good, a touch on the expensive side, but it was delicious. For those that could stay for dinner, all of them were most impressed and felt content with their choices. I had an awesome beef burger, whilst Robin had a huge chicken schnitzel. Loads of bread platters were ordered, along with lasagne, chicken Caesar salads, Ploughman’s, ribs, steak, fish & chips etc.

Tired kids determined when we left. Another round of hugs, another lot of goodbyes. Not goodbyes forever though, just goodbye until next we meet.

Sorted the kids out and put them to bed. Then it was time to switch on the TV and watch the 2010 Federal Election results roll on in…

My first full week with the railways was simply induction. This is basically an intro to the workings of the railways and so on. Every new employee on the railways has to complete the induction course. It’s not exactly stressful nor is it hugely stimulating either. Majority of the courses involved written assessments. There was some audio visual presentations, along with the usual ice breakers and getting to know you stuff. The class is very diverse to say the least. It does make it interesting and at times slightly frustrating. You get that.

Nicknames are starting to emerge, as well as in-jokes. My trainers are excellent. All experienced and all of them expect the best out of everyone. There is fun had at the appropriate times and serious when we need to be.

Slight hiccup with our pay. Let’s just say that HR is to blame. Easier that way.

Finished up the week by completing my Rail Industry Safety Induction (RISI) course. I have a nice certificate too. In the next few weeks will complete my level 2 RIS training, then I get a nice shiny gold card, hopefully with a decent photo on it.

Job specific training starts now.

OK, location is changed form Petersham to Belmore. No worries. Just means I have to leave a little earlier and change at Redfern instead of Strathfield. Quiet trip on the Up on the Western Line to Redfern, off on Platform 4 up and over to Platform 6. Brrr. That wind is cold. Mmmm. Don’t mind the look of those M-Sets. Shit! That’s the train I need! It’s on Platform 8! Bloody hell! I seriously don’t need to be late on my first day!!!

I needed of been in a flap. I caught the next train from Platform 8 and rode the all stops to Belmore. Arrived a little after 0800hrs. Found a whole bunch of others milling around in the front foyer and could hear people upstairs. Roller door of reception was still down (it didn’t get raised for the whole day) and time was ticking by. A lady identifies us as all trainees all here for First Aid course. She brings us all upstairs and announces to us that…. We Have No Trainers Booked!

Welcome to RailCorp.

I was warned. It was foretold. It happened.

So we wandered around the building waiting for someone to arrive. That someone did arrive. He was our Ops Inspector. We were supposed to meet him on Friday. He apologised for lack of trainers and said “Welcome to RailCorp. You’ll get used to it.” with a big grin on his face. He then apologised again. He did what he called a “song and dance” which involved him taking questions from the group and explaining basically what we were getting ourselves into.

The First Aid trainers arrived at about 1030hrs. They were external contractors. Terry an ex-NSWFB Station Officer and Helan an ex-nurse. So the course began. Nothing too exciting. It was rather easy for me.

The next day, I made sure I went to Platform 8 at Redfern and was early. Again nothing too exciting course wise. During breaks I got chatting to Terry. He trained with some of the firefighters I know. A very interesting guy. He’s a qualified pyrotechnician, scuba diver and volunteer for NSW Marine Rescue. He does work for TV & Movies blowing stuff up, scuba diving with Discovery Channel & NatGeo Channel and is the medic onboard a NSW Marine Rescue Waverley Class lifeboat. Next thing I know, I’m being invited to join NSW Marine Rescue as a medic. it’ll have to wait until I’ve finished my initial training. At the end of 2 days, I’m qualified, yet again, in First Aid.

Friday was called Zero Day, but pay wise, it was my 3rd with RailCorp. This was my introduction to the C.O.K. or College Of Knowledge. Officially RailCorp College of Training Petersham. I tell you what, some serious tax payers money has been spent on this place. Very modern amenities and training rooms. Even saw the new train simulator for the A-Set “Waratah” the latest trains that will be joining the RailCorp fleet in the not too distant future.

All the other “learners” were wearing RailCorp uniforms. No uniform for us Trainee Transit Officers. It will be issued to us, but whilst we’re training, it’s “business attire” for classroom activities and plain clothes for the more physical activities in train carriages, on platforms etc.

We started the day by being introduced to all our managers and our HR Business Manager. Handed in the all important banking details for pay, signed our names a dozen times on various forms and went through the Introduction to Training manual. Since RailCorp hasn’t recruited Transits since about 2008, this is a large class of 32, well was 32. One changed half way through the selection process over to train driver, one just didn’t turn up. We weren’t told why they failed to show, other than there is almost always a no show on the 1st day. The class was divided into 2 teams, Blue & Green. I’m in Green Team. The 2 teams will learn together mostly in the classroom, but will be separated for physical activities. Blue team went off and got measured for uniforms etc after lunch, whilst Green Team, basically got to know our lead trainer and each other.

Transit Officers are part of the Security Division of RailCorp. There are about 600 staff in total in Security Division. The majority of the managers have Military, Law Enforcement or Emergency Services experience. I was impressed with all of them. My team and class overall are an interesting lot of people to say the least. 6 females in total. There are also about 6 “internals”, people who already work for RailCorp. The rest of us are “externals”. As with any government job ion this age, there is wide cross section of nationalities. Indian, Pakistani, Lebanese, Italian & American make up the class. More interesting though is which parts of Sydney, Green Team come from. It is mostly made up from people living in the North, North West of Sydney, with 3 from Western Sydney, that includes me, 1 from Wollongong outside of Sydney and 3 from the Central Coast. Interesting bunch indeed.

At the end of the day, as I approached Petersham Station, I saw that the train wa still on the platform, doors open, passengers milling about the place, most of mobile phones. As I made my way down the steps, I could hear sirens. Police sirens. Shortly after 2 Police officers ran down the stairs onto the station platform. Some passengers pointed to the 4th car and the Police entered and removed an Asian male and an Asian female. The female looked shaken and pale. She was sat down on a seat. The male was taken to the other platform. He was reaching into his jacket. The Police repeatedly told him to remove his hand from his jacket. They warned him that he would be hurt if he failed to comply. He failed to comply. He was hurt. A quick spray of OC spray to the face, he was promptly sat on his arse and handcuffed. The look on the gobsmacked school kids’ faces was priceless. By this time 4 more Police officers had arrived. I later found out that the male had assaulted the female on the train. Also he apparently showed a knife, hence the OC spray to the face. An exciting finish to the day.

Monday begins a week worth of RailCorp specific training. Rail Safety, Fraud & Corruption etc etc etc. Then after that, the real training begins. 6 months worth of training crammed into 3 months. Looking forward to it.

When I woke up this morning, it was like any other work day. Out of bed, get dressed, got in the car and drove. As usual joined the mayhem that is the M4/F4 or whatever it’s called these days, dropped Robin off at her place of employment, down the hill, cross the river and into the hospital carpark. This would be the last ever shift in nursing. I’d spent my entire nursing career at Concord. I trained there. I learnt many hard lessons there. I saw the best and worst of human nature. I worked with some of the most wonderfully dedicated people on the planet. I also worked with some downright arseholes who made my time there, especially the early years, very difficult. Thinking back now, I worked in many areas. In rough chronological order they were; Orthopaedics, Neurology, Geriatrics, General Surgical/Day Surgery, Respiratory, Vascular, Oncology/Haemotology, MRSA Isolation, Urology, Patient Transport and Burns. I spent 9 years in Burns.

I was in outpatients clinic for my last shift. As usual, went into the boss’ office, got the key from the top drawer and opened up the outpatients office. As always Prof Haertsch was in Consult Room 1, dressed in scrubs for a day of surgery, reading his SMH and doing the crosswords. Our usual morning greetings were passed. I switched on the hallway lights and then I saw it. Right at the end of the hall, on the patient’s toilet door no less, was a huge Farewell Tim sign. It made me grin and shake my head. I walk down the hall and opened up the Treatment Room, switched on the lights and found yet more signs. One stuck to the window, the other on the computer monitor. Cheeky buggers. Night shift obviously had a quiet night

Received a SMS from Mum wishing me well on my last day. Not long after I got an SMS from Yvonne simply stating “Last Day!” Then the girls started file into the room. Sarah and Megan, both still in very upset at my leaving, came in and gave me big hugs and laughed at all the signs everywhere. Everybody entering outpatients was going to know it was my last day! Helen from night duty came over and admitted she was the sign culprit. Kathy the ward secretary came in shortly afterwards. Then Chris O came in, as did Michelle the Occupational Therapist. Rae the Nurse Practitioner with her bright red hair then came bouncing in. Strewth! It was only 0800hrs!! I still had another 7 hours to go in the shift!

I didn’t have much planned for the day, just had to prepare files for the next day’s Plastics Clinic, sort through the remaining data and basically tie up loose ends. The morning absolutely flew by! I ended up doing my last ever laser doppler and burns dressing on man with a hot water scald to his foot. It was rather nasty. He’ll probably end up being grafted. Chris O shouted me a hot chocolate with extra marshmellows! Robin rang me to see how I was going and if anything interesting was happening. Told her she was to join me in the afternoon after work for my farewell afternoon tea. Didn’t at all feel hungry today. Not sure why.

Bought James up to speed with the two databases. Yes, it was a crash course, but he’ll pick it up easily enough. The data job was a difficult job. Entering the data is a piece of piss, getting staff to write down the appropriate details on the data form is the hard part. Endless hours of chasing up data I will not miss. I do know that the data is essential in proving the need for more funding, research, education & prevention. I’m proud of the fact that over the years I actively contributed to setting up & fine tuning the statewide burns database and that Prof Maitz had the faith in me to be on the Reference Committee for the Bi-National Burns database. NSW is years ahead of all the other burns units in Australia & NZ in terms of burns data collection. I’m very proud to have actively contributed to that database being where it is today.

Overall, I feel proud and honoured to have worked in best damn burns unit in the country.  It was the only speciality I truly felt at home in during my nursing career. I learnt so much in my time there. I grew as a nurse, as well as a person. I saw some terribly horrible things. I saw plenty of death. I saw so much more hope, guts, determination and spirit. I kinda feel like my burns nursing career reads like a soldiers war record. Bali Bombings. Canberra Bushfires. Bondi Gas Explosion. Bathurst Bushfire. Princes Highway Tanker Crash. All high profile events, some with tragic stories, all filled with people overcoming adversity. Humans are truly amazing. Severe burns change, not only the victim/survivor’s life, but their partner, family, friends, colleagues lives as well. And yes, it affect the burn care professionals too.  I cannot speak highly enough of the outstanding multi-disciplinary burns team at Concord. Each and everyday they work small miracles.

Anyway, got off track there. The afternoon quickly came around and it was time to help out with Profs Maitz and Haertsch clinics. As is always the case, there was a large volume of patients to see. Just at the start of the clinics, Penny, Nerida and Miranda came in to say goodbye. Hugs & kisses all round again. The 3 of them were at an ECG course, getting education hours up for the new national healthcare professionals registration requirements. A number of patients also said goodbye to me as they came and went from clinic. Eventually the boys got through the clinic and the girls had turned the therapy room into a party room. They knew I’m a choc-a-holic, so a huge chocolate platter was put together along with loads of other good food, like cheese and crackers, chips, dips, lollies, drinks etc. Robin arrived at just the right time, since my former hungry co-workers were attacking the food with vigour!

Chris P said a few words and tried not to cry. Robin cried though. You see, she’s only ever known me as a nurse and I’ve been a burns nurse for almost all of our married life together. It’s a big change for her as well as me. Prof Maitz jokingly called me a traitor and said I’d never really leave. Prof Haertsch also jokingly gave me a hard time for leaving but also bestowed on me lifetime membership at his dairy farm. And somehow I think I become a lifetime member of Concord Burns Unit. As Sarah said to me during the afternoon “You’re well loved by all here Timmy and you will be sorely missed.” Timmy. Just about everyone called me Timmy at the unit. Even the Profs would call me Timmy.

After all the speeches, photos and food & drink, it was time for me to clear out my locker and sign off. With a box full of crap from my locker under my arm and Robin by my side holding a plate of goodies, I left the Burns Unit for the last time as a nurse.

I really have no idea how I feel. I don’t believe it has truly hit me yet. This is it. The end of an era.

As mentioned in my previous blog I entered to participate in the 40th City 2 Surf Fun Run! For those who don’t know, the City 2 Surf (C2S) is the world’s largest fun run, a 14km course starting from the centre of Sydney at Hyde Park and finishing at Bondi Beach. Some 80,000 people entered this year’s run. From memory that’s almost 20,000 up on last year’s run, which was a record. Organiser’s had to introduce a new group colour to cater for the extra entrants.

This was to be my 2nd C2S and I was in the Blue group with my bib number being 41767. I competed in my new employer’s colours. Hey, who am I to knock back a t-shirt & ballcap and BBQ lunch on the sands of Bondi Beach after finishing? Anyway, the weather was nothing short of beautiful! I mean seriously, it’s winter here and you’d think it was the middle of spring! Waiting to start, listening to the usual 2 annoying blokes on the PA talk rubbish, I look up and watch the numerous helicopters circle above. Police helicopters, news helicopters and a few private company helicopters all buzz the city like giants wasps. The traditional tossing of the outer clothes begins, with those closest to the footpath targets for those in the middle of the road. The clothes are later picked up and donated to charity. The vibe at the start is great. Everyone smiling and in good humour. There are plenty of costume clad runners. Stormtroopers, bananas, Gumby, Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, witches to name a few. Plenty of all over body painted runners as well in a wide variety of colours.

The elite & serious runners have gone and are probably in Double Bay by the time blue group gets moving. The view of a sea of people is just phenomenal! There is nothing quite like it. The colour. The sounds. The mass movement of people from all walks of life, some blind, some deaf, some survivors of majority cardiac surgery, cancer survivors, burns survivors, people running for sick loved ones & people running for charities.

One of the great things about this fun run is, it’s exactly that, fun! Along the entire 14km course, there are people cheering you on, kids with their hands out wanting to give high fives, Hare Krishnas chanting & banging drums, “Elvis” standing on the back of a ute belting out the hits, “Smurfs” on a flatbed truck drinking beer and pumping out the music on two large speakers, a hard rock cover band blasting out songs from atop a pub’s awning, a lone piper playing the bagpipes at the top of Heartbreak Hill, jazz bands, 6 costumed girls standing on a brick wall singing “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands. If you’re tired and you know it clap your hands.” and even a bunch of guys in Bavarian costumes playing brass instruments.

Like everyone, I had a goal. That goal was to do the course under 2hrs. I achieved that goal. Unofficial time (according to my stopwatch) was around 1hr 53mins. I learnt some lessons for next year. Firstly, don’t get pushed over in parked cars. That really buggered up my rhythm. Didn’t lose a lot of time, but I found it hard to get back into my rhythm only 4km out from the finish. Secondly, I went too early from the finish. Found out that I didn’t have as much energy in the tank as I thought. As one journalist described the last 1.3km along Campbell Parade, it “seems like a daylong march with a backpack full of bricks.” I had just enough left for a sprint finish. And I do stress, just enough. I was pretty spent once I crossed the line. However I wasn’t too spent that I couldn’t come across the finish line with my tongue stuck out for the official photographers.

The day was finished off with a BBQ lunch on the sands of Bondi Beach, which was looking spectacular! There was then the fun of lining up for buses to be taken to Bondi Junction Station and then board a train for the City. There was an utter shitload of people at Bondi Junction station. I pity the driver & guard as they approached the platform and just saw the entire platform filled with people, 4 or 5 rows deep.

So my 2nd City 2 Surf complete. Looking forward to next years. My goal. To beat this year’s time of course.

G’Day All to all whom bother to check this near dormant part of cyberspace! I’m alive! My PC is alive! My webpage is alive! It’s Alive!!!!! Sorry, the evil scientist side got carried away there.

In short dear people, my old PC decided to die an inglorious death. During the months following it’s departure from the computing world, with the help of Drue & David, new motherboard, CPU, RAM, DVD R/W, HDD etc were purchased. Eventually they were all put together and became a PC! Hooray! Oh but wait, my LCD monitor decided it wanted to be with it’s long departed PC and not with this new whizz of a machine and died too. Sigh. So since I needed a new monitor, why not just get two! So I did! Seems everyone else I know has two screens, some have four! Some have a HUUUUGGGGGEEEE screen that covers the side of a building! Oh wait, that’s a signal box. Anyways, I now have no excuse not to blog, well so say Yvonne, Shelley, Pip & Jen to name a few!

So that’s the tech side of things sorted. In other news, after 15 years of nursing in the NSW public health service, I’ve resigned. It must be said that when I announced to my nursing colleagues I was resigned, it was like a bomb had gone off. I tweeted that I’d dropped a bombshell at work and it seemed it was accurate description. Nobody saw it coming, but it was time for me to move on. I’d never planned to nurse for this long, but as with a lot of plans, they never quite go according to that plan. My last day of work at the hospital is 10th August. I start at my new job on 11th August. Out of the frying pan…

So what is the new job? After a very long and intense selection process, I’ll be trained as a Transit Officer in RailCorp (railways in NSW). The position basically involves providing safety for the rail network users and RailCorp staff, enforcing fare compliance, preventing fare evasion, anti social behaviour, graffiti & vandalism. Transit Officer are part of the Security Division of RailCorp & work very closely with the Commuter Crime Branch of the NSW Police Force. Transit Officers are Special Constables of NSW.

Yes, it’s hugely different from nursing, but that’s point. I wanted to do something away from health, but still wanted to be involved with the public. I’m very pleased with myself, because I proved to myself, I was able to do something outside of the health industry.

In other news, doing my 2nd City to Surf “Fun Run” tomorrow. Guess I better do a blog on that too.

Sigh.